A joint venture between Cranecorp and Daniel Besen has purchased the historic Perth landmark the Old Swan Brewery.
A joint venture between east coast firms Cranecorp and Daniel Besen has purchased the historic Perth landmark the Old Swan Brewery for $21.3 million from a Multiplex-related entity.
The Victorian-based Besen family has amassed over $900 million from its retail empire including the Sussan fashion stores and Mr Besen and his wife owned the Melbourne label Saba until last year.
Cranecorp is a niche property developer in Victoria. It developed the 428-unit Victoria Brewery site dubbed Tribeca in East Melbourne.
"The Old Swan Brewery is an iconic Perth property and it is an appropriate and exciting way for our Joint Venture to establish a presence in Western Australia," Cranecorp director John Crane said. "It's an outstanding opportunity to acquire the leasehold interest to a substantial piece of real estate with such great fundamentals."
"We look forward to being involved with this important community asset as part of our interest and commitment to Perth. We have a long term view to investment and development opportunities in Western Australia." said Mr Besen.
Jeff Holloway, director of Multiplex Developments' Commercial division, said: "Our business is growing in Western Australia and we need to be mindful of our long term accommodation needs. This provides us with an opportunity to move closer into the Perth CBD, potentially into one of our own developments or property investments".
"We anticipate the capital proceeds from this sale will be reinvested into our development business," Mr Holloway said.
The Old Swan Brewery - located on the banks of the Swan River - was built in the early 1900s before undergoing significant renovations from 1999 to 2001.
The Mounts Bay property comprises 2,965 square metres of office space, 269 car parks and 1,500 square metres of retail. The property is on a leasehold title, due to expire in 2057.
Multiplex currently occupies the entire office component of the four-level complex, but is considering a longer term accommodation strategy.
Redeveloped by Multiplex in 2001, the Old Swan Brewery is located three kilometres south west of the Perth CBD and comprises a range of buildings up to 140 years old. The 28 luxury residential units and associated car parks that were built as part of that redevelopment are not included in this latest transaction.
About Cranecorp
Cranecorp is a leading market specialist in property development and investment solutions. Its experienced team is focused on producing and investing in a distinctive range of quality residential, commercial and retail developments tailored to suit unique project requirements. The Company is perceived as having great strength in site acquisition, astuteness in reading the market and providing accurate product and master planning.
Cranecorp is an established property development and investment company with a string of successful projects, investments and businesses. Significant investments have included the purchase of 333 Exhibition Street, 40 Market Street and 456 Lonsdale Street Melbourne.
John Crane in partnership with R.Corporation and Babcock & Brown has also undertaken the redevelopment and conversion of the historic Victoria Brewery site to create 'Tribeca' East Melbourne, a unique lifestyle development comprising 428 apartments over 8 buildings and a boutique retail precinct.
About Daniel Besen
Daniel Besen has investment interests in a number of private businesses including Mimco and Boost and also in a number of property developments primarily in the commercial and residential sectors.
In the Besen family businesses, Daniel has held the position of Executive Director of Highpoint Shopping Centre, the largest shopping complex in Melbourne's west. Since the early 1990's Daniel has been involved in all aspects of significant major developments and refurbishments, including design, building leasing and marketing, which has seen the centre grow to 350 speciality retailers and an annual turnover of $650m. Daniel was instrumental in the sale of a half interest to GPT for $620m.
As a Director of TarraWarra Vineyard and Winery for over 15 years, Daniel has been actively involved in all aspects of the business from overseeing the vineyards and winemaking, through to marketing and distribution.